1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical/surgical angioplasty and stent delivery system, and also its multi-purpose use as a small retractor to virtually keep open any small orifice of the body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many balloon stent delivery systems occlude blood flow during stenting operations. For laminar flow the equation of flow in an artery is: Q (Flow)=ΔP/Rf=ΔP/8ηl/πR4=πR4ΔP/8ηl (where ΔP is change in pressure; Rf is resistance; η is viscosity of fluid like blood; l is length of the artery; and R is radius of the artery). Most important, in the above equation for flow, Q, derived from physical principles is proportional to R4 (R being the radius of an artery). Thus any incremental decrease or increase in the radial length R of the artery has tremendous effect on blood flow Q. So, stent delivery systems that allow for an incremental decrease in the radial lumen length of an artery will substantially impede blood flow. In particular the interruption of blood flow to the heart is so critical to patients during angioplasty and stenting operations, that the system of using balloons as delivery system may not be efficient.
In fact during angioplasty and stenting procedures, cardiologists have only seconds to inflate then deflate the balloon and take it out. However, the current embodiment of the stent delivery system allows for the maximal maintenance of downstream antegrade blood flow while the stent is being placed and/or when angioplasty is performed. This improvement is considerably important to patients and offers cardiologists an efficient way to deliver stents and do angioplasty without worrying about inflating and deflating the balloon quickly in matter of seconds. The balloon angioplasty and stent delivery devices offer uniformity and better custom fit of stents, which may be lacking in self-deploying stents. And this advantage of uniformity and better custom fit is preserved in this current embodiment. The current invention can be made entirely of smooth metal or flexible plastic plates that conveniently allows for complete sterilization, so it can be used again and again. Or else the FMSDS can be made entirely from plastics, making it disposable.